The Right Reasons
by Scarlett Wilde
Summary: 2009 After Tish ditches him for bigger & richer prospects, Priestly is ready to go on with his life & forget about her. Life goes on in the sandwich shop until a new romance comes in the form of a gorgeous student by the name of Tom - Cry-Wolf.
1. Chapter 1

**The Right Reasons**

**Chapter 1:-**

"Anyone miss me?" Priestly asked, smirking as he tied on his apron. He was wearing his favorite Orgasm Donor t-shirt, his black combat pants and boots. His hair was spiked up and dyed a lurid purple color. His piercings were back in place and his nails painted a very fetching black. On anyone else, it would have been intimidating but on Priestly, it was just kinda cute.

Trucker smiled slowly, leaned across the counter and nodded reflectively. "Of course we missed you, Priestly."

"Can we call you Boaz now?" Piper said, her voice twisted as she tried not to laugh.

Priestly flicked her with the end of the dish towel he'd picked up. "Not if you wanna live," he growled, but there was no anger in his words. It actually felt kinda good to be back at work.

He'd called Trucker at the beginning of his week off and told him what was happening, and Trucker being Trucker had told Priestly to take all the time he needed.

But a week was all that was needed to erase everything Tish from his life…from the STD she had given him (okay, the meds said longer, but the worst of it was gone), to the crap shit he'd gotten from Banana Republic in a bid to impress her. The only thing that lingered was the abiding memory of how long he'd wanted her.

Thing about Tish was, it was all about the packaging when it came down to it. And it turned out that even when Priestly became what she wanted, she didn't want it after all. She left town with some guy in an Aston Martin, and whose trust fund could buy her whatever she wanted.

"I think I prefer Priestly anyway. It suits him better," Jen shrugged. She was sat in her usual place at the counter, laptop in front of her, making notes of the incoming orders for that days lunches.

"Me too," Trucker smiled. His eye was caught by a flicker of bright blue across the road. Zo turned, raised her hand to wave – silver wedding ring glinting in the sunlight – and gave Trucker a huge happy smile.

"So?" Piper started, chewing the inside of her cheek hesitantly. She glanced at Jen, who shook her head, eyes wide. "Are we gonna talk about what happened between you and Tish… or are we just going to ignore it all like it never happened? Have a nice big pink elephant in the corner?"

Jen groaned and dropped her head onto the laptop's keyboard.

Trucker scrubbed his hand over his face and mentally told himself off for not having made his point that they weren't to bring up Tish unless Priestly did any clearer. Instead of saying anything, he gave Piper a pointed look and rolled his eyes.

"No. No, that's fine. I'm a mature man. I can talk about this without breaking down into a glob of something gross. What do you want to know?" Priestly nodded, once. The second time he nodded was less sure. "Go on. Ask away."

"What happened?" Piper said quietly. "It's not really that I'm prying. It's just, you know, we all really care about you. What you did to win her was so… well, anyway… she's bitch and she didn't deserve you…"

"Too true," Jen seconded Piper, finally lifting her head up off the keyboard and smiling softly at Priestly.

"It just turned out that even Banana Republic wasn't enough for… for… her. First rich guy that walked by and she was off like a shot. Didn't even look back. Just got up one morning and she was gone. Left me a nice little parting gift though," he dropped his gaze down to his crotch.

"Ewww," Piper screwed up her face.

"That's kinda gross… and yet it doesn't shock me," Jen said, forcing her eyes away from Priestly's crotch.

Priestly rolled his eyes. "Don't worry. I've been to the docs and I'm good now."

"That's good to know, Priestly," Trucker said in a fatherly fashion, patting him on the shoulder as he walked by.

"Hey, you know when you were teasing Ti… her, about being high maintenance and how guys like us should lower our standards… you kinda meant it, didn't you?" Priestly asked, meeting Trucker direct look.

"Yeah, I kinda did. Pretty packaging is all well and good, but it's what's underneath that counts," Trucker answered, leaning on the counter next to Jen.

"So, why didn't you stop me? Before I got something icky in my pants?" Priestly said quietly.

Trucker stood up slowly, turned and dropped a hand on Priestly's shoulder. He gave a gentle squeeze before he explained. "If we'd've stopped you, you'd still be liking her now, and she'd still be treating you like shit. She knew from day one how you felt about her and yet she still flaunted herself in front of you with all those other men. And no matter what any of us would've said to you, you'd still have liked her. You just had to see her for what she really was… how the rest of us saw her. Nice girl, just couldn't keep her legs shut for a minute."

"Oh, well, gee thanks guys. You know, I feel so much better now," Priestly flapped his hands in the air and pouted.

"And if we'd have known about the crabs, we definitely would've have stopped you," Piper told him, sincerely, meaning every word.

"Awww man. You told them? I didn't tell them what she gave me… I can't believe you told them…" Priestly stalked off into the kitchen out back and started throwing the silver pans into the sink and scrubbing them.

"There's no secrets between us, you know that Priestly. We're one big happy family here," Trucker said quietly from the doorway. Jen pushed by on one side, and Piper on the other. "And it was Zo who kinda let it slip out… when she brought that cream round for you. For the itching."

"Urgh," Priestly dropped the scrubber into the soapy water. "I just feel like such a damned fool, you know. I thought the clothes, the hair – it would be enough."

"Never works to pretend to be someone you're not," Trucker said knowingly. "Just gotta be yourself and the right person will come along."

"It's true," Jen nodded, agreeing.

"Trust in Trucker," Piper piped up.

The bell chimed to let them know they had a customer and they all dispersed back to what they were doing before Priestly's little outburst.

Jen went back to sorting through the internet orders. Trucker wiped the tables down before the lunchtime customers. Piper served the young woman and her daughter with their mid-morning snacks.

And Priestly? He tried not to think about Tish while he worked.

~ O ~

After an uneventful but busy afternoon, Trucker left early to walk home with Zo, leaving Piper and Jen with Priestly. Until Fuzzy turned up to meet Jen.

"Oh, hey, you're back," Fuzzy said when Priestly grinned at him.

"He's back. Back here, and back to normal," Jen grinned. "Just the way we like him." She gave a playful punch to Priestly's shoulder.

Priestly chuckled. He shouldn't have worried about coming back to work. These were his family – as mixed up as they were, and though he'd never admit it, he was kinda fond of them all.

"So, Fuzzy… you got a real name or do we get to call you Fuzzy forever?" Priestly asked as Jen went to fetch her purse and jacket out of the staff room.

"Jeff. My real name is Jeff," Fuzzy smiled, holding his hand out. "Nice to meet you Boaz."

"Ha ha," Priestly rolled his eyes but laughed all the same, shaking the proffered hand. "You know I have to kill anyone who uses that, don't ya, _Jeff_?"

"Now, now, Boaz. Leave Jeff alone," Piper called out. "I'm off too. Meeting Noah and Julia at the beach for a late picnic."

"Can everyone forget that my name is Boaz, please?" he pleaded. "I hate it."

But they all shouted 'bye Boaz' as they left, leaving him alone in the Grill.

"Oh yeah, that's right. Just leave me here to clean up by myself. Go on, go have fun all of you. I'll just be here. By myself. All alone…" he mumbled, smiling.

"Except I'm still here," a male voice appeared from one of the booths, followed by a dark mop of floppy hair.

"We're kinda closed," Priestly told him.

"I know. I figured that out by myself… but Trucker's been letting me hang around while I finish up whatever I'm doing. It hasn't been a problem. Is it a problem for you?" The boy – well, man really – dragged himself out of the booth and turned to face him. He had a book bag along with a laptop bag, and both looked as heavy as each other.

"If it's okay with Trucker, then I guess its okay with me. I'm Priestly," he told him, looking the newbie up and down. He looked younger - a good deal younger than Priestly – but when he stood, he had at least three inches on Priestly, so he couldn't have been _that_ young.

"Yeah, I know. Heard _all_ about you," he smiled and drifted towards the door. "Probably heard more than you'd like me to know… if you knew me, that is."

"And you are?" Priestly followed him to the door, holding it for him.

"Going to be very late if I don't get a move on. Bye Priestly," he gave him a smile as he ducked under Priestly's outstretched arm. "See you around."

"Hey, you have a name?" he called after the man.

"I do," he called back and disappeared into the early dusk.

Priestly stared out into the evening, mouth open and fingers curled tightly around the cleaning cloth.

~ O ~

"So, okay, after you guys left last night, something funny happened," Priestly said by way of a 'good morning' when he arrived at the grill.

"Define funny," Trucker responded first.

"Well, see, after everyone deserted me and left me to clean up all by myself – or I thought I was by myself, except I wasn't. Some guy… in one of the booths…" he paused, looking from the girls to Trucker. "Any idea who he is?"

"Well, from that amazing description…" Piper started

"Long hair… looks like a twinky student?" Jen countered.

"That describes him perfectly, yeah," Priestly nodded. The pink spikes of his hair bobbed with the movement.

"Well, now, of course we know who he is," Lucille butted in from her usual spot.

"Anyone going to clue me in, then? Or is it like some secret, because he sure as hell made himself at home," Priestly ranted in his usual fashion.

"He's a college student here on a break. No secret. He's staying with Zo for a bit while he 'finds himself'. He kinda went through some stuff back home, and his mom was an old buddy of Zo's, so when Zo found what had happened, she offered him a place to stay for the summer," Piper explained.

"He only arrived about three days ago," Jen told him.

"I think it'll take more than three days to find himself," Priestly snorted. "So, does this guy have a name then?"

"Why so much interest, Priestly? I know he's pretty and all, but I thought you were a girl's only kinda guy?" Piper asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Ahh, no," Trucker grinned. "Our Priestly here has been known to play both sides of the fence occasionally."

Jen, Piper and Lucille all perked up at that information.

Priestly rolled his eyes and threw the wet wash cloth he was holding at Trucker. "Thanks," he nodded. "Thanks a lot."

"Crap. Was that meant to be a secret?" Trucker sniggered.

"His name's Tom, by the way," Lucille said with a wink. "And he's a homosexual, too. Though I have to admit, I'd never have put you down as one, young man."

"Oh God," Priestly groaned. "Kill me. Kill me now."

Trucker laughed, along with Piper and Jen. They were still laughing when the doorbell tinkled a moment later and six foot four inches of hot student by the name of Tom walked in.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:-**

Tom took a seat at the counter, dropping his laptop bag at his feet carelessly. He stared at Trucker, Piper and Jen as they continued to giggle helplessly, starting over afresh each time they dared to look at each other again. When they laughed so hard they couldn't even talk, Tom glanced at Priestly, who just rolled his eyes and shrugged at their shenanigans.

"Looks like you're gonna have to serve me," Tom smiled widely, looking like the cat that got the cream. He was choosing to ignore the fact that everyone else appeared to be laughing at him, even though they'd been at it since before he'd come in. He'd seen them through the window as he'd crossed the road. And he was just this side of paranoid…

"Looks like," Priestly agreed, shoving a helplessly giggling Jen out of the way so that he could stand, hand son hips, directly in front of Tom. "What can I get ya?"

"Hey, you know what? Surprise me… I eat anything and pretty much everything," Tom grinned even wider, dimples appearing and eyes shining bright with mischief.

Priestly took a second to rake his eyes up and down the length of Tom that was visible above the counter top. If thoughts of the well built kid in his school uniform ran through Priestly's mind, he was keeping that _all_ to himself. "Oh boy, I'll just bet you do," he smirked, quirking up a single eyebrow.

"Hey… I'm a growing boy," Tom chuckled, attempting to look affronted by the insinuation and failing.

"Yeah?" Priestly arched his brow again, looking the younger man up and down as much as he could. "If you grow anymore, you'll need your own zip code."

Tom laughed. He was used to jokes about his size, and even more used to people's reaction to the amount of food he could pack away in one sitting. If packing away food was an Olympic sport, Tom would get gold every single time.

"Should I be worried?" Tom asked a moment later, staring pointedly at Priestly's chest.

"About your surprise breakfast sub? Sure…"

Tom laughed, throwing his head back and clapping his hands together with glee. "Yeah, I'm not so worried about that. I meant that…" and he waved at Priestly's torso.

Priestly looked down at the picture on his apron and smirked. "If you find a finger in your sub, it's totally not mine," he winked, and he was pretty sure he didn't imagine the blush staining Tom's cheeks.

"There's something you should know about our lovely Priestly," Piper chimed in, still giggling but mostly under control. "His fashion sense kinda sucks, but he has a great range of slogan t-shirts, which we use to judge his moods. See, if he's in a good mood we get the ones that say 'Orgasm Donor'. But if he's in a bad mood we get things like 'You Know What Your Problem Is? You're Stupid'."

"Or there's the kilt. Don't forget about the kilt," Jen winked, smirking at the blush spreading over Tom's cheeks. "You should see him in his kilt. You do still _have_ the kilt don't you, Priest?"

"You have a kilt?" Tom's voice was an octave lower when he spoke, slightly broken and scratchy. It didn't take a genius to know that Tom was currently picturing Priestly in nothing more than a kilt and the guyliner.

Priestly glanced at the look on Tom's face, the slight blush staining high on his cheeks had spread and was now a full-on flush. "I kept everything… from before. Just hid it all for a while. Now it's back." He saluted his middle finger – complete with black chipped nail polish - to his Mohawk. "And yes, I still have the kilt."

Tom made a sound in the back of his throat, a low, deep, hiccupping growl at the thought of Priestly in a kilt – only in his mind it was a kilt and nothing else, and somehow Priestly was spread eagled on the bed, begging Tom to suck his dick.

Priestly leaned across the counter and grinned like a predator closing in on its prey. "Keep picturing whatever you're picturing in that pretty little head of yours and maybe one day I'll wear it again," his voice low, husky and promising.

Tom gulped loudly. His Adam's apple bobbed rapidly in his throat. His cheeks flushed bright red and felt hot enough to start a fire… in hell.

Priestly chuckled at the flush that spread out across Tom's cheeks. "Sorry, I couldn't resist," he grinned, pushing the wrapped sub across the counter.

Tom nodded dumbly, his mouth utterly refused to work. But it did give him an inkling of an idea. He just needed his laptop and some uninterrupted time alone with it… okay, and his sub.

He grabbed the sub and tossed a five dollar bill on the counter, bent to grab his bag, got it caught round the leg of the stool and almost tripped ass over teakettle in front of the Grill's regulars. Not cool. Not cool at all.

"You okay there?" Priestly asked, hopping over the counter and helping Tom to right himself again.

Tom stared at Priestly's hand wrapped around his bicep. The touch felt electric and he shivered involuntarily, biting at his lower lip. "I'm good… I'm fine…" he managed to stutter out. "God, you have the most beautiful eyes…"

Priestly stopped stock still and stared at Tom, aware that silence dropped over the whole Grill. "Thank you?"

"Yeah… I…" Tom swallowed. "I just noticed… close up an'all…"

"You're really tall…" Priestly stated the obvious. "Like really tall and built, yeah…" he licked his lips, tongue flirting dangerously with the lip ring. His hand curled tighter around Tom's bicep as they stood toe-to-toe, eyes locked.

"Told ya…" Tom swallowed again. All he had to do was dip a couple of inches and he'd… they'd… be kissing. "So… okay… I'ma gonna go and eat this and do… umm… some research… work… yeah…"

"Yeah… you should… go research…" Priestly nodded, eyes zeroing in on Tom's lips as he stuttered.

"I'll see you later," Tom nodded, matching Priestly movement for movement.

"I hope so," Priestly grinned, releasing his grip on Tom's arm. "I really hope so."

Tom manages to make it out of the shop without making an even bigger fool of himself… but the day is still early yet.

When he'd gone Lucille fanned her face with the menu. "Phew," she huffed, fanning harder. "Did anyone else notice the testosterone level just soar? I think I came over all dizzy for a moment there…"

"It wasn't just you Lucille," Jen laughed, moving back to the laptop to check if any orders had come through while they'd been goofing off. "I think the whole state felt that one."

"And they're about to call a national state of emergency because of it," Piper giggled, patting Priestly's back.

"You guys are hilarious, you know that?" Priestly grumbled, rolling his eyes and hopped back over the counter. "A real laugh a minute."

"Come on, Priestly," Tucker snorted, rubbing his hands on a clean dish cloth. "Even _I_ felt that level of flirtation and I'm practically immune."

"Whatever," Priestly retorted, but there was no heat in the words. His grin said it all.

"Well, I think it's time for me and BamBam to head home," Lucille announced, standing and shouldering her bag, BamBam's head poking over the top, ears pricked and nose sniffing at nothing at all. "After that little display, I've come over all of a tizzy and I think some alone time might be appropriate."

"Oh my God, Lucille," Piper giggled again, throwing her hand over her mouth. She cast a glance at Jen, who was trying her best to stifle her laughter. "That's TMI."

"Oh, come on, we're all grown-ups here," Lucille huffed. She turned on her heels and left the Grill.

Mr. Julius jumped up. "I think I'll just… you know… make sure she gets home okay." And with that, he too left the place, scurrying after Lucille.

"You see what you've done with your hormonal overdrive?" Tucker proclaimed, waving his arms around the currently empty diner. "You've driven away our only two regulars…"

"They'll be back," Priestly promised, grinning and shaking his head. "They always come back."

"Unlike your crabs, huh?" Jen asked, eyes innocently wide belying the smirk that tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"Uncalled for," Priestly scowled. "And they were _hers_ first. Can we talk about something else now, please?"

"That's a very good idea," Trucker agreed. "Though I do believe I actually pay you all to work." He winked and was instantly distracted by the sight of his wife waving to him from across the street.

Behind Trucker's back, Priestly flicked his tea towel at both the girls, setting them off giggling yet again. It was going to be _one of those days_…

~ O ~

Back at Zo's, he made nice with his aunt for a few moments before seeking out the sanctuary of his bedroom for some private time with his laptop.

He had had an idea, so he logged straight onto Google and within the first five links or so, he'd found what he was looking for. All he needed now was to place an order, using the credit card his dad had given him _to cover any essentials. _He seriously doubted his dad would consider this an essential item but Tom did, and that was all that mattered.

It had been a long time since Tom had felt such an instant attraction to someone. Priestly just happened to tick all of his boxes, and Tom had been hankering for a way to win him over – not that he really needed to, but still… if anything was worth winning, it was worth putting some effort into it. He'd learned that from his father.

And that was about the _only_ thing he'd learned from his father, seeing as his father was rarely there to teach him anything. Maybe that had a lot do with why he'd acted out the way he had before his momma sent him live with Zo.

He couldn't fault his parents for sending him out of the way. It would take a long time for the heat to die down back at Westlake Preparatory Academy, and he wasn't exactly proud of what he and the other's had done… but he'd been one of the few who'd actually had the guts to speak out and admit to the stunt. Everyone else had been too scared to speak out about Dodger's actual level of involvement, but Tom hadn't been. He wanted anyone and everyone to know just who it was that had actually instigated the 'game'.

This was supposed to be his fresh start, moving to Santa Cruz to start all over again. He'd been there less than twenty-four hours when Zo introduced him to the Beach City Grill, and since then he'd practically lived at the place. He found the staff amusing with their comedic responses to anything and everything. The customers were just the same…

And for the first time in… oh, forever… Tom found himself making friends, actual real friends, ones who didn't want to just be his friend just because his father was a senator or because his family was filthy-stinking-rich.

Then he'd met Priestly and everything Tom thought he wanted had gone flying out of the window… because now Tom just wanted Priestly. But the girls at the Grill had informed him that Priestly had just gotten out of a relationship, one he'd had his heart set on for quite some time, one that hadn't worked out.

Tom didn't fancy being someone's rebound. But God, Priestly. Just thinking about him and Tom's body reacted. It could be the tattoos, or it could be the piercings, it could even be the brightly colored Mohawk, but Tom was pretty sure it was more down to the twinkle in Priestly's eyes when he'd looked Tom up and down and then smiled like he wanted to eat him up.

So, break-up? Tom didn't think Priestly seemed as cut up over the break-up as the girls had implied, and Tom was fully intended to make a move. Soon.


End file.
